Game Day Preview: Jets @ Senators

When: Saturday, February 9, 2013

Time: 1:00 p.m. CST

Where: Scotiabank Place, Ottawa, Ontario

Records: Winnipeg Jets (4-5-1 – 11th in East), Ottawa Senators (6-3-2 – 5th in East)

Television/Radio:  CBC, RDS/ TSN 1290

The Story: The Winnipeg Jets visit the Ottawa Senators this afternoon (1:00 p.m. CST, CBC, TSN 1290) looking for early season revenge.

The Sens defeated the Jets 4-1 back on January 19th (the season opener for both teams) so now, three weeks down the road,Winnipeg will be trying to avoid history repeating itself.

Heading into tonight’s game, the Jets are a shaky bunch, losers of four of their last five games , including three straight on the road. The Jets gave up a late third period lead to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night to lose 3-2 and are still trying to rediscover their early season form which saw them earn points in four of their first five games.

The Senators are coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes and are still adjusting to life without offensive leader Jason Spezza, who is out of the lineup for the next six weeks recovering from problems with his back.

Jets d-man Dustin Byfuglien will miss his fifth straight game with a lower body injury (day-to-day) which means rookie defenceman Zach Redmond will start his fifth consecutive game. Redmond scored his first career NHL goal on Thursday night, a shorthanded marker assisted by Bryan Little. Redmond has a goal and two assists in his first four games.

Today’s game is the second of three meetings between the Jets and Senators this year. The third and final meeting of the season is in Ottawa on Sunday, March 17th (4:00 p.m. CST).

Al Montoya is expected to start in goal for the Jets today.

Follow @IllegalCurve on Twitter leading up to tonight’s game.

Projected Jets line combinations (subject to change* before game time):
*as of Jets skate this morning, there are no expected lineup changes.

Goalie:

Al Montoya

Forwards:

1st: Andrew Ladd- Bryan Little- Blake Wheeler

2nd:  Evander Kane- Olli Jokinen- Alexander Burmistrov

3rd:  Alexei Ponikarovsky – Nikolai Antropov- Kyle Wellwood

4th:  James Wright- Jim Slater – Chris Thorburn

Defence:

Tobias Enstrom- Ron Hainsey

Mark Stuart- Paul Postma

Grant Clitsome- Zach Redmond

Offensive Leaders:

Ottawa Senators: Kyle Turris (4 goals,6 assists, 10 points), Erik Karlsson (5 goals, 4 assists, 9 points), Daniel Alfredsson (4 goals, 3 assists, 7 points), Milan Michalek (2 goals, 5 assists, 7 points)

Winnipeg Jets: Tobias Enstrom (2 goals, 10 assists, 12 points), Blake Wheeler (4 goals, 5 assists, 9 points), Andrew Ladd (4 goals, 5 assists, 9 points)

Injury Report:

Ottawa Senators: Jared Cowen (hip), Jason Spezza (back), Guillaume Latendresse (head)

Winnipeg Jets: Zach Bogosian (wrist), Antti Miettinen (upper body), Dustin Byfuglien (lower body)

Who’s Next:  The Jets return home for three straight games: versus Philadelphia Flyers (Tuesday, February 12, 7:00 p.m. CST), versus Pittsburgh Penguins (Friday, February 15, 7:00 p.m. CST) and versus Boston Bruins (Sunday, February 17, 2:00 p.m. CST)